


Hop and a Step

by LamiasLuck



Series: Timid Speech [8]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Cause he's a sweetie, Eric panics about the bunny's wellbeing, Fluff, M/M, Panic, Pets, bunny - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 20:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20477129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamiasLuck/pseuds/LamiasLuck
Summary: Another day, another stroll through the woods to help Eric calm his nerves. This time, however, an unexpected disturbance interrupts Eric's peace walk. Before he knows it, a tiny bunny finds its way to Eric's heart. Will Eric be able to handle caring for another pet considering the fates of his past animal friends? Perhaps with the Host's help he can!





	Hop and a Step

Eric took a deep breath of fresh air. The forestry surrounding him was ethereal, so dense with trees that the sun barely managed to pierce through. On the ground there were various types of shrubbery and plants. Eric took it upon himself to try to identify every flower he sees, a common practice that helped him ease his mind. 

He crouched down to look at a cluster of pretty flowers, white tulips, to be exact. As he tried to inspect the flowers more closely, the bush began to rustle. Soon after, a bunny jumped out of the bushes and promptly began to munch on some leaves. Eric yelped and fell backwards at the, frankly adorable, sight. The bunny paid no mind as Eric shuffled away as far as possible, eventually pressing his back against a tree. 

It was no secret that Eric liked animals, but he learned to admire from afar. Oddly enough, the creature was a lop bunny with a white coat, but lop bunnies don’t belong in the wild? After a filling feast of leaves and flowers, the bunny hopped closer to an increasingly worried Eric.

“No, no please go away,” Eric pleaded to deaf ears. To his panic, the bunny was happened to be quite confident and hopped closer and closer. If only it could lend Eric some of that confidence, who tucked his knees to his chest in an attempt to make himself as small as possible. “Um, please don’t… don’t get hurt, bunny.”

Animals and Eric never seemed to mix, and that fact  _ pained  _ him. As much as he wanted to run away and leave the bunny be, it was still a lop bunny. The poor creature didn’t have the right survival skills like its wild counterpart. He needed to help somehow, he couldn’t let this bunny die alone. 

Eric was shaking like leaves swaying in the wind as he picked up the bunny, holding it as if he was holding a baby. The bunny cuddled closer to Eric’s chest and looked at him with big, innocent eyes.

_ No, no! Don’t get attached, don’t get attached… _

He made a beeline to the manor, rushing past questioning eyes in order to head towards the Host’s library. Everyday was a chaotic day in the manor, seeing Eric running with a bunny isn’t the most craziest event to happen in this madhouse. Thankfully he didn’t cross paths with Dark, but he noticed the bunny cower slightly in his arms whenever he crossed paths with anyone. Perhaps it wasn’t as confident as Eric thought, though that wasn’t surprising behaviour for bunnies.

“Host?! Host, I… I really need, I-I need some help!” Eric called out as soon as he pushed open the library’s doors. The Host appeared behind one of the bookshelves. If the circumstances were different, Eric would have laughed at the sheer confusion on his boyfriend’s face.

“The Host notices that Eric made a new friend?” He warily approached Eric, the bunny in Eric’s arms squirmed upon seeing him. 

Eric tried in vain to calm the bunny as he struggled to hold it. “Um, yeah… guess you, you could say that.” He didn’t bother to hide the pleading tone in his voice. “I… um, can you help, p-please? I found the little guy all alone, and it’ll die if I don’t do something…! I-I don’t, I don’t want it to die…”

“Leave it to the Host.” He hummed in understanding, a simple narration should do the trick. Perhaps a child lost their pet and was looking for the poor creature. Unfortunately, fate seemed to be cruel to the scared bunny. “The rabbit was abandoned in the forest. Her previous owners found her to be too cowardly for their liking.”

“A… Abandoned?!”

“Unfortunately so.” Both men frowned deeply, the bunny now hiding her head in Eric’s shoulder. 

“What are we gonna do now…?” Eric’s voice cracked as tears began to build in the corners of his eyes. “It, er,  _ she _ has nowhere to go.”

Eric gladly leaned into the Host’s touch as his boyfriend cupped his face in order to brush away stray tears. The Host noticed Eric mindlessly pet the bunny’s fur, and how the act seemed to calm him. 

“The rabbit has taken a liking to Eric, it appears. Perhaps she wants Eric to care for-”

“No-! I-I mean - I shouldn’t,” Eric panicked. “You… you know how I am with animals. I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t even be holding her!”

“The Host is well aware of Eric’s past, but his situation is different now. If it makes him more comfortable, the Host will ensure that the rabbit is safe.” 

“Really…? But what if - Um… are pets allowed here?”

“The Host is sure that he can pull a few strings, so long as the rabbit stays in the library.” 

Him and Eric didn’t have a reputation for being disruptive in the household, anyways. It would be easy to convince Dark and Wilford to let them keep a pet. Hopefully, at least, but the Host’s considers himself to be on Dark’s good side. With how the bunny acted around others, chances are she won’t bother anyone in the slightest. Besides, even the Host would admit that the bunny was cute. His heart swelled at the image of Eric cuddling the bunny close to his chest as if his life depended on it.

“I-I just…” Eric sniffled and blinked away any remaining tears. “I just don’t want her to get hurt a-again.”

The Host pressed a kiss on Eric’s temple, quick to step back in order not to stress out the bunny too much. “And she won’t, not if the Host has anything to say about it. Eric will be a wonderful pet caretaker. He just needs to trust the Host, and most importantly, himself.”

“I trust you.” The bunny’s fur was soft as Eric continued to pet her. He looked at the bunny as she finally looked up at him. Black, beady eyes held a look of trust. Eventually, he looked back at the Host with a hopeful smile. “I think I can do this!”

A similar smile dawned on the Host’s face as soon as he heard those words. “Then the Host and Eric should look for rabbit supplies as soon as possible. However, she still needs a name… What would Eric like to name her?”

Eric tilted his head slightly as he pondered for a moment. He then looked at the bunny again, her innocent look as pure as her white fur. “Can… can we name her, um, T-Tulip?”

“Of course, that’s adorable,” the Host agreed. He had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from continuing that sentence with “just as cute as Eric”, but he decided to focus on the task at hand. 

The other egos let them have their peace. A majority found it cute that they decided to become “pet parents” as they like to call them. Tulip was still afraid of everyone, with Eric being the only exception, but the Host was determined to make her life as comfortable as possible. He couldn't help but quickly become endeared by her timid nature. Perhaps he had a liking for shy personalities.

**Author's Note:**

> Silly fluff cause I want Eric to be happy! Moral of the story: Tulip is a sweetie that deserves the world :D  
Sometimes I have trouble writing Eric's dialogue structure, but I hope it doesn't seem too bad
> 
> Tumblr: https://lamiasluck.tumblr.com (send requests or something, I'll mostly write anything lol)


End file.
